Demographics
| 1718 | 1790 | 1792 | 1815 | 1822 | 1828 | 1838 | 1848 | 1858 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14,608 | 20,000 | 23,000 | 23,538 | 25,831 | 28,840 | 33,811 | 36,804 | 44,091 |
| 1861 | 1866 | 1872 | 1876 | 1881 | 1886 | 1891 | 1896 | 1901 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48,273 | 50,180 | 52,377 | 53,397 | 66,279 | 77,478 | 88,273 | 93,760 | 105,109 |
| 1906 | 1911 | 1921 | 1926 | 1931 | 1936 | 1946 | 1954 | 1962 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 134,232 | 142,940 | 155,000 | 185,000 | 220,000 | 240,000 | 210,000 | 242,500 | 293,000 |
| 1968 | 1975 | 1982 | 1990 | 1999 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | - |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 329,950 | 344,481 | 337,085 | 342,439 | 342,738 | 347,060 | 348,721 | 344,875 | - |
| Sources : database Cassini of EHESS for selected numbers until 1962, database Insee from 1968 (population without double counting and municipal population from 2006) |
According to the estimates of INSEE, the population of Nice was 347,900 inhabitants on 1 January 2005. Nice is thus the fifth largest city in France, behind Paris, Marseilles, Lyon and Toulouse. The agglomeration of Nice, defined by INSEE, is home to 888,784 inhabitants (fifth most populous in France) and its urban area totals 933,080 inhabitants, which makes it the sixth largest in France.
Roughly 10% of the population has foreign citizenship.
The six largest immigrant groups are from:
- Tunisia
- Italy
- Morocco
- Algeria
- Portugal
- Spain
The city saw a big demographic rise in the second half of the 19th century, a period when the population more than doubled, mainly due to French immigration. At the beginning of the 20th century, this rise intensified with the arrival of internal immigrants from the County of Nice itself.
After the First World War, the city had a strong increase in population. Immigration was again the reason of this growth. The hotel industry and that of the construction industry, in full strength in the 1920s, attracted the world more and more and thus made it possible for Nice to become a town of national importance. In 1921, Nice then became the eleventh most populous town of France, then in 1931, the eighth, before being ranked sixth in 1946; thereafter the city reached its current demographic level thanks to the arrival of sixty thousand people including French citizens from Algeria.
Since the 1970s, the number of inhabitants has not changed significantly; the relatively high migration to Nice is compensated by a natural negative growth of the population. Nice has a high proportion of elderly people.
Currently, the population of the city is growing again, the most likely reason of which is a preference for the climate. Nice was projected to have 360,000 citizens in 2008, and will have 370,000 by 2012.
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